Common Sense

He continues with this thinking by writing, "Thus necessity, like a gravitating power, would soon form out newly arrived emigrants into society [… ] and render the obligations of law and government unnecessary" ( Paine, Par.4). The quote explains how we unconsciously group together based on common interest and once that happens there is no real reason to have a type of government because at this time we are all working and coming together to achieve one goal. This supports Paine's purpose of having America completely break away from Britain by showing the people and congress that there is no reason to be governed by someone across the sea when they through trying to make America successful have already formed a society that has a common goal.

Thomas Paine believed that the selection of Kings was unnatural because people are born into being Kings and nothing assures that the person will be a good leader. Just because your father was a good leader does not mean that you will be one. Paine states that nature would disapprove it, and that we should not give mankind “an ass for a lion”1. He says that when we were created we were all created equal. The British had so much control no one could do anything about it. They could not overcome the government and it made the colonists feel useless. This is exactly why Paine criticized the monarchial government because they were indeed doing everything unfairly and doing it only to benefit themselves.

Paine says the monarchy is granted far too much power and does not offer a reasonable system of checks and balances, although it claims it does. He emphasizes how the sole purpose of government is to protect its citizens, protect life, liberty, and property and that government should be judged solely on what it actually accomplishes. Paine also discusses his problem with hereditary succession, saying it’s an “abominable practice”. Paine believes hereditary succession has brought with it innumerable evils such as corruption and civil war. Paine proposes a representative democracy that will provide equal power for all colonies.

In the previous paragraph, although Paine talked about the flaws that come into play in a government that is run by a single ruler, he then talked about how having a ruler may be inevitable and provides an example of how it may work. Though Paine doesn't argue against having a ruler to the fullest extent due to the amount of oppressive that is seen through having single rulers, he feels that there should be someone in charge but have equal power with other parties, therefore that single person isn't in complete control. According to Paine, " Let the assemblies be annual, with a President only. The representation more equal. Their business wholly domestic, and subject to the authority of a Continental Congress." This shows Paine's thinking on producing a government with equality. In this example, there will be representation from all aspects and people, so they can and will be part of the decision-making as well as the President. Thomas Paine's theory on creating a government with a higher power which is surrounded by equality can flourish due to the elimination of oppression, tyranny, and abuse of power.

He says that the “government is just” and that “there is nothing to engender riots and tumults”. It is very obvious that these things are not true in regard to our current government. Our current government is not just, as it is riddled with corruption and systemic oppression of minorities. In America today, only a small portion of the people feel protected by the government. It is also untrue that there is nothing that the government does which incites riots. We can see examples of riots and protests against the United States government occurring every day. Currently there are protests against racism in the police force, protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline, and protests such as the Women’s March against our new president. This shows that Paine’s description of a fair and just government does not hold true

Paine then talks about the concepts of monarchy and hereditary succession and how Israel once did not have a king but the ancient Jewish people had wanted one to keep the order and the peace among them. Paine says when the Jews decided they wanted a king and God was infuriated, pages from the bible were displayed in this

He wrote this in order to explain and seemingly demand American’s rights and what he thought they all wanted and what would be most fair to all involved. As mentioned above religion seems to be the center of most controversy, he too had his opinions and it mostly involved where church belonged and most importantly, where it did not belong. Paine spoke in a prejudice tone but proposed this to be an unbiased composition. “The adulterous connection of church and state, wherever it had taken place, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish, had so effectually prohibited, by pains and penalties every discussion upon established creeds and upon first principles of religion, that until the system of government should be changed, those subjects could not be brought fairly and openly before the world” (654). He felt that if the government shared their two sense that it would shake up the whole country. His argument was claiming that it was unfair to the people to have a government share in one faith. This after all, was a new world; a world full of equality and everyone should have their own right to believe. Thomas Paine was one of the only people to share his wisdom and speak for the people and made the most points in the right direction, which is fairness. He truly supported whatever the American dream was perceived as at that

Next, Paine contended against the idea of monarchy and hereditary succession. He utilized the Book of scriptures to outline God's judgment of monarchies. At that point he contended that America never again required Britain's assistance, and that

2) Some flaws that Paine finds with the current English government is the King of England holds all the power in the government and the Constitution of England is far too complex. The Constitution is too complex for the people to understand so that creates numerous problems, which will never be able to be solved. He believes that the government is contradicting itself when it explains that they have a union of three powers that are checking each other, but in reality no one has power over the king. England is allowing the king to have all the power to do pass any law that he chooses without any consequences. The current English

1. The problems that Thomas Paine sees with the British monarchy involve its straying from ideal government, the unjust placement of one individual above all others, and its hereditary aspect. The problems that Thomas Paine sees with King George III in particular are his personal transgressions against liberty. Thomas Paine, firstly views government as “but a necessary evil” (15), and therefore it should be both as limited as possible and also tied to the more positive society. The ideal form of government, thus according to Paine, is a simple republic where the elected are forced to be accountable to their electors (16). The British monarchy fails in all accounts; not only does the prescence of a monarchy at all eliminate the accountability of a republic, but the complicatedness of the British monarchy system makes it worse in this aspect than even other monarchies. Although absolute monarchies are horrid in that they give no power to the people, they are still simpler than the British monarchy; this makes issues much more difficult to handle in the British monarchy (17). The other problems that Paine has with the British monarchy apply to monarchies at large. Paine argues that the placement of one person above all others is an unnatural divide; there is no explanation for the division of people into “KINGS and SUBJECTS” (22) such as there are in other forms of division that humans live with. If it does not make sense to place one individual above all others, then such should most certainly not be law; therefore, from this logic, monarchy, which is entirely based on the principle of placing one person (and their relatives) above all others, is an invalid and unnatural form of government. Of course, some people could, arguably, have earned the admiration and respect of their peers through important action, and thus be deserving of a leadership position. In a republic, by listening to their electors, the elected earn their right to lead. However, the hereditary monarchy removes this earning of the right to lead, and Paine takes issue with that. There is no guarantee that the descendants of a good leader will also be good leaders, and therefore the government of a country should never be left to heredity (29).

Paine may not have been the perfect man but he did have great ideas at least for some people in America. In Hogeland sure essay he describes how pains ideas are greatly divided here in the 21st-century. For example pain talks about not getting religion and politics mixed in with each other, as in don’t let your beliefs in God affect the way a country should be ran “Those objecting to religious-right projects like teaching creationism in schools invoke Paine the Deist, exponent of scientific inquiry. Yet WallBuilders, a conservative Christian organization, cites a 1797 speech in which Paine criticized science teachers for overemphasizing reason and ignoring the "Divine Author." (Hogeland, p69) this is the main theme Hogland is trying to get at. People today are very particular about their politics and how they should be run based on ideas of the past for example, the constitution that was written in the 1700s by the founding fathers of America. People today find this document to be life or death if you want to go against it, its is considered un-American or completely against republicanism and democracy. He is saying people change their views based on what is most acceptable to them at

Scott Liell’s book 46 pages: Thomas Paine, Common Sense, and the Turning Point to Independence ultimately describes Thomas Paine’s life and showcases the struggles he went through and the outside forces that influenced him to write Common Sense. Liell’s book also expresses the importance of Common Sense, stating that it is the “single most influential political work in American history” (16). Paine was born and raised in England, in which the King and his monarchial rule would have evident influence in his later

In the second section, Of Monarchy and Hereditary Secession Paine refers to biblical evidence that monarchy is sinful and serving a King is like worshiping a false idol. He brings this up because many saw a divine King like God and were afraid that if they did not follow the king’s orders they were not following Gods orders. Since all mean are equal he states that no individual and their family should own the thrown of a nation forever. Paine also adds that the very first king was chosen so all kings after should be chosen by election.

It claims all monarchs are despots, cut off from their people and craving for absolute power.  “Male and female are the distinctions of nature,” Paine wrote, “good and bad the distinctions of heaven; but how a race of men came into the world so exalted above the rest . . . is worth enquiring into” (Paine 9).  Government is a necessary evil, a “badge of lost innocence,” that tends to get in the way of civilized society.  Modern civilizations should organize themselves into local, self-governing societies with only representational government, suggested Paine, not an all-powerful monarch. “Of more worth is one honest man to society, and in the sight of God, than all the crowned ruffians that ever lived” (Paine 17).